New Report Urges the Pentagon to Do More to Prevent Prescription Drug Abuse Among Soldiers
Posted by azdrugrehabctr on February 26, 2014 under Prescription Drugs | 
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According to a new government report, the Department of Defense needs to do more to prevent prescription drug abuse in the military. A large issue lies in the lack of uniform standards for dealing with this issue. Some military branches are tougher than others when it comes to monitoring and preventing abuse and misuse of prescription pain pills among recovering service members.
In the report conducted by the department’s Inspector General’s office, investigators found that the Army has an aggressive policy that monitors a soldier’s prescriptions which allow them to receive four different drugs, including one controlled substance. The Navy has a similar policy, but starts the monitoring at five controlled substances in some locales.
In so-called Wounded Warrior units, patients are supposed to receive the most focused care, so it is troubling that the report cites dozens of overdose deaths in these units during the war years. The report strongly urges the Pentagon to be more aggressive in addressing every potential loose end that allows these overdoses to happen.
One of the Inspector General’s recommendations endorses wider accessibility to a “take-back” program that allows pharmacies to take back unused medication from troops. Currently, these programs are conducted only twice a year under the mandate of the federal Drug Enforcement Administration.
The “take-back” programs are designed to give soldiers a safe and accountable method to dispose of medications that are no longer needed for treatment. Practicing this method keeps unused pills out of the hands of soldiers who may abuse the medication and it also prevents soldiers from exceeding the doses needed to treat their ailments.
According to responses cited in the report, corrective steps are being taken to guard against wounded troops “doctor shopping” and using the same prescription to obtain more pills, potentially for abuse. The report also stated that in 2010 – the last data cited – nearly a thousand soldiers were hospitalized for drug overdoses. In 2011, a Pentagon health survey found that one in four troops use pain medication.
Hopefully the corrective steps being taken will be enough to decrease the risk of overdose for the high-risk patient population of wounded warriors in the U.S. military.
